Theater review: ‘Moulin Rouge! The Musical’ is a whirling fantasy from beginning to end

By Iris Fanger/For The Patriot Ledger

Monday

Aug 6, 2018 at 12:00 PMAug 7, 2018 at 9:47 AM

The boundaries between concert tour, theater and film have been breached once more with “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” spread across the stage and into the newly-gilded, just re-opened, Emerson Colonial Theatre. Ambassador Theatre Group, the good fairies behind the restoration, had me at the crystal chandeliers studding the foyer ceiling of Boston’s beloved landmark.

By now, you’ve read the hype surrounding the stage adaptation of the 2001 motion picture written by Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, and directed by Luhrmann. Surely headed for Broadway, this juke-box musical has been dressed to the top of the proscenium arch and punched out into the audience, helped by a reported $30 million budget—and it shows. If you like a large cast complete with face mics, you will love “Moulin Rouge!” as much as the audience last Friday night. You cannot help but hear the actors because the volume is turned up to high and higher. Rather than applause, the cast was rewarded with screaming from an audience filled with instant fans.

The score is a conglomerate of pop songs that range in time from the 1940s hit by Nat King Cole, “Nature Boy,” to Broadway’s “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” (from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”), to more up-to-now numbers like Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” and Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” There’s so many to mention, a two-page, small-print list of song credits runs at the back of the program book. There’s even a nod to classical opera in a bit from “Carmen.”

The plot is no less of a mash-up than the music. Book writer John Logan cloned dialogue from the film, which was based in part on the 19th century melodrama, “Camille,” and crossed the story with the setting of “La Boheme.” The narrative frame, recited by Christian (Aaron Tweit), the American writer wandering in this wonderland, is a throwback to Christopher Isherwood’s “Berlin Stories,” turned into the musical, “Cabaret.” Neither Satine (Karen Olivio), the heroine of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” nor Sally Bowles from “Cabaret” comes to a happy end.

Christian arrives at Montmartre in Paris around 1899 where he finds an enchanting band of misfits, artists, and ladies of the night—not to mention a can-can line of ladies twirling their toes and wagging their hips. Toulouse-Lautrec (Sahr Ngaujah) becomes his best friend, along with Tango dancer Santiago (Ricky Rojas). Christian is enlisted to join them in creating a spectacular show at the Moulin Rouge, the seedy nightclub at the center of the quartier. Harold Zidler (Danny Burstein) leads the project with his troupe of show-folk, its women wearing magnificent corsets, fishnet stockings and not much else in an ever-changing parade of sumptuous costumes designed by Catherine Zuber.

Christian and Satine fall in love, but they must hide their affair because the wealthy Duke of Monroth (Tam Mutu)—boo, hiss the villain—has guaranteed a fortune to produce the show, but only if he controls it with Satine tossed in as his prize. The first act is a frantic and lively series of songs and dances, staged by Alex Timbers and choreographed by Sonya Tayeh, with music direction by Justin Levine. The superb cast and skilled artistic staff come trailing long credits from Broadway theaters and other stages, but they need no more proof of their talents than this extravagant venture.

Act II turns dark and gloomy but not to worry. After a tragic ending to the story, Timbers tacks on an up-beat finale, to leave the viewers with happy smiles on their faces. It’s as if we are to remember, in Shakespeare’s words, “that ye have but slumbered here, while these visions did appear.” And note, this is not a family-friendly musical, given the heightened erotic tone.

The exclamation mark in the title tells it all: “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” The creators are depending on the audience’s love for familiar pop tunes, hurled one after another and often swirled together in continuous patterns; the amazing visuals of Derek McLane’s scenery, lighted by Justin Townsend, that melts into the newly decorated theater. And there are many surprises.

Viewers who flock to spectacles like Cirque du Soleil or who grew up crowding concert tour stops plus fans of “Mamma Mia!” and the like will spread a good word about “Moulin Rouge!” Some others of us, not so much.